Veiled in strength: Coralville's World Hijab Day encourages pride, empowerment

Dozens of Iowa City-area Muslim women gathered Feb. 1 in the Coralville Public Library to celebrate their religion and culture and debunk the misinformation and bigotry they often face.

About 250 people, including many friends and family of the women, as well as curious community members, attended World Hijab Day at the library. Organized and co-hosted by the library and the Mariam Girls' Club, a local group with a mission to connect, unite and empower young Muslim women, Hijab Day involved displays about the history of the faith-inspired head covering, conversations aimed at creating understanding and time to build solidarity.

Women arrived in an array of hijabs with different backgrounds and connections to the Muslim faith.

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A symbol of empowerment

The hijab, worn to demonstrate modesty and faith, is empowering, not oppressive, to women of the Muslim faith, said 45-year-old Viana Qadoura of Iowa City, founder and director of Mariam Girls’ Club .

"Usually, the Western World, they write our narrative," Qadour said. She is a Muslim woman who lived in Burlington before moving to Iowa City. "We are here. We have loud voices. We can write our own narrative and speak."

Event promotors used the hashtag #veiledinstrength to advertise the World Hijab Day activities at the library.

There is misinformation surrounding the wearing of the hijab, often connected to the false contention that Muslim women are something less than men in the religion and culture, Qadoura said.

The hijab, in fact, releases women from a confining modern culture in which they are treated as physical objects, Qadoura said.

"You are forced just to listen to my voice to understand who I am as a person, and not to judge me by my appearance or anything like that," Qadoura said.

Other Muslim women at the two-hour event expressed the same sentiments.

Raneem Hamad, 23, director of cultural narrative for RSFIC (Resilient Sustainable Future for Iowa City), a Muslim woman with roots in Sudan, has been in Iowa City for 14 years.

The hijab does not signify oppression, she said.

"I would say that is a dominant narrative and folks need to start questioning why that narrative exists," Hamad said. "That's a narrative that's been pushed to us by certain entities. It's there to basically divide and separate, to not want to get to know each other. Instead of jumping to those conclusions, focus on building relationships."

Rayan Saad, 15, a freshman at Iowa City West High School, is a member of the Mariam Girls' Club. She was not wearing a hijab that night but plans to wear one soon.

"That's a big part of our religion," Saad said, wearing a shorter head wrap. "Personally, I believe that all women should be modest and cover themselves and wear the hijab. Hopefully, that will be my next step, and hopefully, I will wear that soon."

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A community within a community

Several people at the Coralville Library hijab event are involved with the Mariam Girls' Club.

"It's young Muslim girls, we come together and help around the community," said Omnia Ali, 15, also sophomore at Iowa City West High School.

Hamad said hijabs also indicate some differences in backgrounds within the Muslim faith.

"I love seeing the different colors and different designs," Hamad said.

One of the lead organizers, Samira Abdalla of Coralville, community resources navigator for the City of Coralville, said the Coralville event marked the second-annual World Hijab Day celebration at the lending and community center.

"I wanted to show how diverse Coralville is," Abdalla, 25, said of her city, which has a growing Muslim population.

Abdalla, a Muslim woman who grew up in Iowa City, where she moved with her family at the age of 7 from Ethiopia, said she was bullied in middle school and high school for wearing the hijab. Her father, fearing for Abdalla's safety, told her she could remove the hijab if its absence made her feel less of a target.

But Abdalla kept wearing the hijab.

World Hijab Day is part of an effort to make all Muslim women feel more secure in following their faiths and wearing hijabs, she said.

"I want to reduce the stigma and normalize the hijab," Abdalla said.

Douglas Burns is the former co-owner of the Carroll Times Herald. He's been a well-respected Iowa journalist for several decades. He is the current vice president of Mercury Boost.